Tickets for graduation should be requested by the graduand (graduating student) on your registration form.  The form is accessed via the invitation email which will be sent to your personal (home) email address, when registration opens for your congregation.

Note that you cannot book tickets or make any other arrangements for your graduation ceremony before registration opens.

Guaranteed tickets

If you register to attend your graduation ceremony by the registration deadline you are guaranteed to receive:

• a ticket for yourself
• up to two guest tickets - booked via the registration form

All tickets are free of charge.

Guests are allocated numbered seats.  If your guests would prefer to be seated separately you should tick the special requirements box on the registration form, or let us know at graduation-office@bristol.ac.uk if you have already completed the form but did not indicate this requirement.

See our Accessibility/special requirements page for information on accessibility arrangements and tickets for carers.

Babies and young children

This is a family occasion so children and babies are welcome, however all children must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. Children aged two years or older must have their own ticket.

Ceremonies last for around 90 minutes, so may not be suitable for very young children. Out of respect for other guests, we ask that children and babies are taken outside if they do become unsettled.

Extra guest tickets

You can apply for extra guest tickets in addition to your two guaranteed guest tickets, by selecting the number requested on your registration form (maximum of two).

All extra guest tickets are free of charge.

If a potential extra guest has accessibility requirements, this must be declared when you register to attend.  You will then be contacted by email for details of the requirements.  If you do not provide this information when requested, if may not be possible to put suitable arrangements in place.  Please note that requesting arrangements for potential extra guests does not guarantee that extra tickets will be allocated to you. 

In the event that we do have spare tickets they will be allocated by random ballot.  We cannot guarantee that you will be allocated any extra tickets and we regret that we are not able to prioritise any extra ticket requests under any circumstances.

We strongly recommend that you do not make travel arrangements for extra guests on the basis that extra tickets may not be allocated.

See below for information about our live screening and streaming of the ceremonies, for guests who do not have a ticket for the Great Hall.

How extra guest tickets are allocated

We will randomly allocate one ticket per application until they run out, or until everyone who has applied has one extra ticket.  If we still have extra tickets after everyone has one, we will then randomly allocate another to those who have requested two.

When will I hear if I have been allocated extra tickets?

We will email you approximately one week before your ceremony to let you know if your request for extra tickets has been successful, and no later than three days before your ceremony at the latest.  This email provides details of the total number of guest tickets allocated as well as their seat numbers.

We regret that we are unable to respond to any questions about extra ticket allocation before the ballot is run and you are notified by email.  Please contact us only if you still have not heard from us three days before your ceremony.

Guests without tickets

Watch on a big screen

If you have guests who would like to share your graduation day in Bristol but do not have tickets for the Great Hall, they are welcome to watch the ceremony live on one of our big screens in the Pegg Theatre or Balloon Bar at the Richmond Building.

Tickets are not required for these screenings but seating is available on a first come first served basis.

Watch live online

If your friends and family cannot attend the day, they can watch the ceremony live online.